Oct 9, 2015

When will Nickelodeon strive again to reach the heights of "Avatar" and "The Legend of Korra" -?

Good news. Fans of Michael Dante DiMartino and Brian Konietzko's action-packed yet philosophical animated shows "Avatar: The Last Airbender" and "The Legend of Korra" are looking forward to the new DVD and book.

Here's the bad news. At last report, neither of these two important talents has decided to return to animation. And their studio, Nickelodeon, has basically thrown in the towel on making a relatively challenging or rewarding alternative to their animated masterpieces.

That means fans old and new are left with a 16-disc DVD collection of "Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Complete Series," released earlier this week, and few cherished memories of how an all-ages animated classic should look, think and feel Fans of The Legend of Korra have an even tougher task: The Legend of Korra: The Art of the Animated Series - Book Four: hardcover arrived in September, but the complete series, announced on Konietzko's Tumblr in July Blu-ray collection has yet to arrive or even be properly announced. Note that the finale of "The Legend of Korra," "The Last Battle," was broadcast last December.

It is reasonable to expect the complete Blu-ray set of "The Legend of Korra" to arrive in time for the holiday season, along with the upcoming "Avatar" and "Korra" comics from Dark Horse. However, it is unreasonable to expect Nickelodeon to be busy producing a new original series with such broad appeal, visual artistry, and sociopolitical and environmental conscience. These two animated series are arguably Nickelodeon's last great original productions: Avatar: The Last Airbender routinely won Annie, Emmy, and even Peabody Awards, and its more mature sequel, The Legend of Korra, was not as universally praised Although not as well received, it produced perhaps the most powerful female hero in animated television.

"I am proud to add Korra to the pantheon of TV characters; Korra is permanently lacking a multifaceted female character who is neither sidekick, subordinate, nor a mere trophy for the male characters," Konietzko said in 2014, Nickelodeon told me just before it took the third season of 'The Legend of Korra' off TV air and offered it exclusively online." Now that I hear that more TV shows are being produced than ever before, the idea that she is the most powerful female character and I can't think of another is quite depressing."[9

"I think the expectations for what an animated children's TV show could look like and what kind of story it could tell are probably too low," DiMartino added. We are constantly pushing the envelope with the sophistication and depth of the storytelling and artwork in Korra. We hope that people who like interesting stories and entertaining shows, whether they normally watch anime or not, will check this show out. Over the years, we've heard time and again that Avatar: The Last Airbender and Korra: Birth of a Legend have converted even the most skeptical viewers."

"We're very pleased to be working with the NICORO team to bring the show to a wider audience."

Nickelodeon and its creatively adrift parent company, Viacom, seem to have missed such an animated conversion. A cursory glance at Nickelodeon's list of programs does not lead one to conclude that the company does not intend to create a compelling alternative to Avatar or Korra, i.e., one with a powerful female protagonist. [While the ratings and ratings of shows like "Pig Goat Banana Cricket," "Harvey Beaks," and "Breadwinners" that eschew human characters in favor of animals and food have been steady enough to keep the station alive, "Rugrats," "SpongeBob," "Ren & Stimpy, and Avatar, no idea is big enough to impact the cultural mainstream. Although perhaps Nickelodeon's most successful new show, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is a reboot of an existing show, and most of the female characters are either villains like Kraang Prime (Roseanne Barr) or near villains like Karai (Kelly Hu) Characters. Other than the recurring good girl April O'Neil (Mae Whitman), "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is a dub-dub show with dub-dub heroes.

"Avatar: The Last Airbender" and "The Legend of Korra" convincingly broke the mold of Nickelodeon's tired dudebro. Nickelodeon's refusal to continue the tradition of "Avatar" and "Korra" may be remedied somewhat by the international adventure "Miraculous Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir," which will air on December 6. But that will far from make up for the lack of originality and gender equality in the station's animation.

It's a shame, because Nickelodeon deserves credit for its remarkable achievement. Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra are the most ambitious and inspiring animated series of this still-new millennium, which is more than most networks can claim. In fact, it can rival most non-animated series in story, design, and intelligence.

Sadly, however, Nickelodeon seems to be running out of ideas for viewers of all ages who are in dire need of engaging programming, with nostalgia shows like "Splatter" reviving 90s fare at best. Sure, it's good to see some shows again, especially the surreal and hilarious "Rugrats". But what's really not good is more new shows trying to do the same old thing when, decades later, the network should really be doing something different like it does now. [Nothing could be more damning of Nickelodeon's unwillingness to push the envelope and raise viewers' expectations than the fact that DiMartino and Konietzko have abandoned television for novels and comics, respectively. It will only be a matter of time before viewers hold Nickelodeon accountable for the redundancy of its cartoons. When that happens, Nickelodeon will have to come up with an excuse to keep viewers engaged.